ORIGIN

BaT Exclusive: 2009 Radical SR8 LM

7/9/2014 Update: This Radical has been sold.

From 6/19/2014:

This 2009 Radical SR8 LM (chassis 00080) is a lightly used example of the current Nurburgring Nordschleife street tire lap time record holder (a blistering 6:48—see this link) that is only being offered by the seller because he has decided it’s just too scary—“I’m going back to racing my GT1 Porsches which are a LOT SLOWER”. Powered by a 2.8 liter flat plane crank V8, the car offers 460 HP, a 1,500 pound curb weight, lots of downforce and is essentially a low production, privateer LMP car. Amazingly, they even make a street version the UK. It is now available in Costa Mesa, California for $79,500.

​New examples of the British built SR8 retail for $175-200k depending on options, and this particular example is said to be as close to perfect as it gets with less than 12 hours use since last refresh. During his six month tenure with the car, the seller has raced only two track events (Willow Springs 12/13 and Autoclub Speedway 5/14), during which he openly admits that he was unable to get anywhere near the car’s ultimate capabilities.

​He adds: “if you’ve got the balls and talent to drive this thing at the limit then you might want to consider going pro!” The video below shows the seller running at Willow Springs where he estimates the he was driving at perhaps 85% of the car’s considerable limits.

Specs are lengthy and impressive, but a quick and condensed list is as follows:

Spares include two full exhaust systems (one slightly quieter for more sound restricted tracks), two sets of lightly used slicks, two sets of new brake pads, various manuals, fluids, filters and other wearable items. Replacement parts are readily available from Radical West in Spring Mountain, Nevada, and the car is currently 100% sorted and ready to race.

Comments

I remember this on Top Gear. I think it held their lap record for some time; but I think the BAC Mono surpassed it. I kind of have a vision of Richard Hammond driving it in London traffic too (the Radical).

@Tom12000: I know what you mean. Several years ago I entered a time trial event at VIR to break in a fresh engine. The second day my motor was good so I used the track time to better learn the course and to dial in my setup. A guy with a new C6 Corvette came over and told me he was embarrassed that I kept lapping him. LOL I told him a $10,000 car driven at 100% is often faster than a $60,000 car driven at 90%. :-)

@dave I went from a 900lb 185hp single seat sports racer lap record holder back to a 1600lb 80hp Datsun that is 30 seconds a lap slower on a 9 turn 2.4 mile course………..and the Datsun is more “fun” because I run in a tight group of 4-5 cars dicing for 7th – 11th………we are busy racing each other and working faster cars past us, great fun.

As for blowing past road cars in a car of this level I’d forgotten about a particular time trial where I pulled up to grid and went to the front of the line. A driver of a 500hp Porsche said something to the grid worker who told him not to worry that I’d be long gone in half a lap, said driver was still skeptical, we were on the short 1.5 mile course and 3 laps later much to his surprise I lapped him. Not to belabor the point but in these types of cars it really is shooting fish in a barrel. Shameless as it may be there is a certain fun in blowing past cars costing 3-4 times as much.

I’d love to have this, but realistically, with that much money in it, I couldn’t afford to really drive it to it’s full potential, for fear of doing some expensive damage.

The other problem is, there’s no real competition for it. I roadrace a Legends car, and it’s much more exciting having 10 or more cars that are equally matched to race with. Nothing is more fun than 2 or 3 cars hooking up in a bump draft on the straights, then seeing who can take the line away and get by in the corners, all the while working our way past all the slower Miatas and Porcshe 944’s, passing them ANYWHERE we catch them.﻿

Okay so we’ve all had that 1 good kart at the go kart track. The one that sticks no matter what line you take and it seems to have twice the power of your buddies karts. It’s fun that 1 time…….Who am I kidding, it’s always fun to be the King even if you know it’s rigged cause you got the hot kart.

……admire the seller’s modesty about his 85% effort……..the video looks like it’s from a Porsche Club trackday, and he is following some protocols about passing, outbraking, etc………they were sporting enough to let him run with them, but he doesn’t want to upstage them too badly….wants to be invited back (probably won’t be!) ……a previous commenter mentioned being barred from normal trackdays……very important point, most operators can fill a trackday without the added hassle of handling fussier open-wheelers or high strung sports racers…..at least this one has a muffled exhaust available. …….I have a friend with an SR4 Radical (Suzuki Hayabusa engine), very experienced ex-racer…….Vipers are child’s play at his local (shorter) track, but even he admits that it is more car than he’ll ever be completely comfortable with at its (considerable) limits.

I’m not a race car kinda guy, checked this post out just out of curiosity. However, after viewing the linked video, I can understand how you hard core track guys get addicted! Maybe he was selective in his choice of videos, but he wasn’t passed a single time by all of those high dollar P-cars! Awesome piece of machinery, awesome video.

This “Is what it is”, and it is tops. Could you imagine it weighing 1,000 lbs? I come at both street cars and race cars from a Designer’s perspective. In the Study of race car History, I think the Lotus Super Seven later the Caterham was banned three different times (Still is at the ‘Ring), reason cited is always “It is too fast to race”. If you do not know about and have never seen a Costin Nathan Imp (Made of Wood) check that out. I have a video about “Wood Pulp Fiber stronger than Carbon Fiber, or Kevlar”. Americans being such great innovators, I would like to see more of that than modification of something already made. Racing improves the breed. Everything else is just waiting.

Seems like the kind of car you psych yourself up that you can handle it, will build up to speed over several laps and soon it will be old hat. You get out there, get on the gas, hit the first turn and realize this thing has way more grip than you have balls. I’d imagine the exposed feeling of the cockpit only adds to the “Dear Lord what have I gotten myselfl into” factor.

BTW, a 2.8l, 460hp v8 with a 10k redline? Is this not the most swappable engine ever? I struggle to think what I wouldn’t want to put it into?

From what I understand these cars can also run a less exotic and less expensive 4 cylinder 1000 – 1300 Cc motorcycle based engine. Performance is still quite incredible from what I’ve seen. Willow Springs brings back lots of good memories from my motorcycle roadracing days in the 80’s, wow I’m getting old.

I know that the threads on center lock wheel hubs are robust, but c’mon. Padded jack stands?

If one can afford other expensive race cars (quote: GT1 Porsche), then one should consider the fabricated wheel stand plates that are available (Longacre etc.). ….just say’n. Maybe he hires someone to wrench the thing.

Went to a Radical Race at the Glen last month. All the Radicals I saw there were Right hand Drive.

They were about 5-6 seconds a lap slower than the Atlantics (1:44?) Note to self- Don’t take the esses flat out on cold tires on a cold morning. Saw a lot of torn up hardware with blue guardrail marks on them.

These are pretty user friendly cars in that they accomadate various skill levels, read they will drone along. I totally respect the sellers honesty about his driving, these cars are near Formula Atlantic lap times at Willow, he appears to be in the 17-20s while the car is likely capable of 12s. In the video he is being very polite and on the brakes a bit early but clearly is staying within his limits……I respect that as I have seen more than one of these in the dirt. For anyone who hasn’t driven a CSR/DSR or other fast sports racer, they are so far beyond road cars it isn’t even funny. I remember we’ll going past a friend in while driving my D-Sports Racer, he was in a new ZO6 Vette and an instructor at Spring Mtn Motorsports, he was doing 115 and I was going about 10 mph faster. Just as I went past he had to get on the brakes for the next corner whereas I went at least another 150 feet. He had a student in the Vette and the first thing the guy asked was where he could get a sports racer………to which my buddy replied “you need to get lot more seat time before you think about going that fast.” If I had to choose between this and a long nose 911 it is a no brainer but I agree it may be to serious of a car for some.

A friend of mine in the UK built a Dax Cobra w a 430 HP SBC. His next car was going to be one of these; alas a divorce meant not only no Radical, but he had to sell the “Cobra” for well less than half of the price of its parts!